That fully funds the current $13.8 million cost estimate for the Charlottesville road and completes a series of promises made by top Virginia officials in exchange for local support of the Western Bypass of U.S. 29.

Secretary of Transportation Sean Connaughton (file photo)

“We’ve made commitments to the community that we would fund certain projects and now we’re fulfilling them,” said Sean Connaughton, Virginia’s secretary of transportation.

At their June meeting, the CTB fully funded the $14.5 replacement of the Belmont Bridge as well as a $7.7 million project to add a second lane on the west-bound on-ramp at the interchange of U.S. 29/250 and Emmet Street.

The CTB also awarded in June a $136 million design-build contract to a team consisting of Skanska-USA and Branch Highways to build the 6.2-mile bypass.

“We had indicated we would bring it back to the board fully funded through a transfer process,” said Reta Busher, VDOT’s chief of programming and planning.

The funding was reallocated from four projects elsewhere in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The Lynchburg District donated $1.25 million, the Salem District donated $2 million and rest came from two projects in the Staunton District.

November 25, 2010

A new city fire station and a long-awaited upgrade of Old Lynchburg Road will proceed next year if a proposed $23.4 million capital improvement program is adopted by Charlottesville’s City Council in the spring.

The money will come from a variety of sources, including a $4.8 million transfer from the general fund, as well as a proposed bond sale of $15.9 million. The University of Virginia is contributing $750,000 toward the fire station, which will be built on Fontaine Avenue. That project’s total cost is $8.75 million.

Another source of funding for next year’s CIP is the transfer of an expected $2 million fund balance from this year’s budget, which will allow the Old Lynchburg Road project to move forward. The project had been pushed back to 2014 after the Biscuit Run development became a state park, costing the city $1.5 million in proffers from the developers of the Albemarle County project.

“The sidewalks have become a huge need with the increased volume of traffic, which puts our increased numbers of pedestrians only inches away from being hit on a daily basis,” said resident Jeanne Chase in an e-mail.

The proposed CIP budget contains $300,000 for new sidewalks, $500,000 for a new bathhouse at Washington Park pool and $50,000 for new bicycle infrastructure. Another $1 million contribution will go to the Charlottesville housing fund, which is awarded to nonprofits working to increase the city’s stock of affordable housing.

Another $775,000 will go toward stormwater initiatives, a figure that staff said might not be sufficient.

“This assumes that there will be no [stormwater utility] fee in place for 2012,” Beauregard said.In previous years, the commission has recommended implementing a fee that would charge property owners for impervious surfaces. However, the council has not yet chosen to do so.

Jim Tolbert, director of neighborhood development services, said the city will likely have to significantly invest in the stormwater system to comply with the Chesapeake Bay cleanup requirements, known as the Total Maximum Daily Load, if the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency requires localities to upgrade their stormwater systems.

“We’re looking at between $3 million and $15 million a year based on what iteration of the TMDL is adopted,” Tolbert said.

The CIP for fiscal year 2012 will not contain a $625,000 allocation for the Piedmont Family YMCA.

“That was moved to [2013] because their construction schedule is being pushed out as they’re trying to get their fund-raising done,” Beauregard said. “It doesn’t hurt them at all, but it helps us balance the budget.”

The CIP also does not include any funding for improvements to the city’s water and sewer infrastructure. That money comes instead from utility rates.

The CIP budget for FY 2012 is 31 percent lower than the $33.85 million budget adopted in the current fiscal year. This is the year in which federal and state funds to pay for the Meadow Creek Parkway interchange have been disbursed to city coffers.

The Planning Commission will hold a public hearing on the budget at its meeting on Dec. 14. Councilors will be presented with the budget in March and will adopt the budget in April.

December 02, 2008

The Charlottesville Planning Commission took their first look at the proposed budget for the Capital Improvement Program (CIP) for Fiscal Years 2010-2014 during a work session on November 25, 2008. Leslie Beauregard, Director of Budget and Performance Management, presented the draft proposal to the Planning Commission. ”The word of the day is bare-bones,” said Beauregard. “We are truly looking at some economic downturns.”

In the absence of budget adjustments, City staff are anticipating an operational shortfall of $1.4 million as they start drafting the FY2010 budget, the capital budget is being examined for cost saving opportunities.

Budget for new sidewalks cut from $300,000 to $0 (then to $250,000 in FY2011)

West Main Streetscape cut from $350,000 to $0 (then back in FY2011)

Forest Hills and Rives Park renovations deferred

Neighborhood CIP funds cut from $125,000 to $0

Sidewalk repair reduced by a third

City-wide traffic improvements reduced from $250,000 to $150,000

Trails and Greenways Development reduced by a fourth

Rejection of new funding for park land acquisition

The Commissioners paid close attention to a few of the budget items cut for next year. Other commissioners were also curious about some transportation budget proposals. Sidewalk repairs were reduced and new sidewalks were cut entirely for 2010. Neighborhood Development Services Director Jim Tolbert said the sidewalk budget is being cut because the funds currently granted to sidewalks are not being used, leaving a balance of almost $800,000 in the account. Commissioner Mike Farruggio wondered why sidewalk money was not being spent, given that Charlottesville residents have been “clamoring for” sidewalks. The funds to begin engineering and design studies for the City’s portion of the Meadowcreek Parkway have remained intact.

Commissioner Bill Emory speaks about the budget proposals

Commissioner Bill Emory, who was the only commissioner to sit on the budget development committee, said he was particularly chagrined to see $1,000,000 requested for new parkland acquisitions cut. He praised the budget office for their careful methodology in deciding which projects to admit into the budget, but felt that the same rigorous evaluation criteria was not applied by staff to the decision of what to cut. Other commissioners agreed that some of the decisions seemed arbitrary. Commissioner Emory also suggested that City consider issuing more bonds during a time of economic stress. The City is legally allowed to incur $482 million in debt but currently has a debt load of only $67 million. He cited Warren Buffett’s advice to move forward in a time when costs are lowered: “When other people get fearful, it’s time for us to get greedy.”

However, the bulk of the work session revolved around the role of the commission in the CIP process in general, more so than the content of the current budget proposal. Last year the Planning Commission had sent a memo to City Council along with the CIP proposals to add some suggestions of their own, including specifically the acquisition of parkland. Commissioner Cheri Lewis said it was unclear how much weight these recommendations were given toward the writing of the final budget.

Commission Chairman Jason Pearson asked, “officially, who is presenting the CIP to Council?” State code specifies that the Planning Commission is the body responsible for presenting the CIP proposals to Council with help from the City staff. However, for the past several years, the Planning Commission has listened to the budget proposal from the City Manager and simply added some recommendations. Several Commissioners expressed an interest in adopting a more assertive role, rather than merely “rubber stamping” the document.

While in general agreement with this shift, Commissioners Michael Osteen and Genevieve Keller felt the time to make major changes to this year’s budget proposal had already passed. The budget office had put “hundreds of hours” into these decisions, and altering them in the last minute would be counter-productive. Beauregard was not even sure if the Planning Commission could feasibly change the CIP proposals at this point anyway. Commissioner Pearson suggested a way forward could be to express to Council their concerns that their input is not taken seriously and their desire to be more actively engaged in the future.

This discussion will be picked back up again during a public hearing scheduled for December 9, 2008.